The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s local Impact in Benton Harbor

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a civil rights leader, died Tuesday at the age of 84.

Jackson came to Benton Harbor, Michigan a few times over the past 30 years. Mayor Marcus Muhammad knew Rev. Jackson and spoke with ABC57’s Jordan Tolbert about Jackson’s life and legacy.

Muhammad reflects on the many conversations he had with Jackson.

He remembers a time when Jackson partnered with him and others to fight a 2011 Michigan law that was specifically impacting Benton Harbor.

“Reverend Jackson, during my administration —or time on the city council—the context was his fight for the voting rights of the residents of Benton Harbor, Michigan, where the emergency manager law of Public Act Four was imposed by Governor Rick Snyder,” said Muhammad.

He says Jackson said this car ride together to South Bend:

“He said, ‘You know, the reason why it's so important that we take up this fight?" he said, "Because Benton Harbor is ground zero and it's the new Selma, Alabama,’ and he said, ‘If we allow for the voting rights to be stripped from Benton Harbor, Michigan," he said, ‘This will spread all across the state of Michigan and across the country.’ and he said, ‘Without democracy, he said, you're not even at the table,’” said Muhammad.

Muhammad says he started his political career in Chicago with “Operation Push,” or "People United to Serve Humanity," an organization founded by Jackson in 1971. He says he was introduced to Chicago politics by Rev. Jackson.

Jackson was also a two-time presidential candidate.

“I reflected seeing him as a child in 1984 watching the television, and I was glued to it, and just fascinated at the idea that a black man could stand up in America, in the land where we were sold as slaves, and say that ‘I am declaring my candidacy to be the next president of the United States, and that, or witnessing that, changed my life forever,” said Muhammad.

Muhammad said ‘where life ends, the legacy begins,’ and it’ll take generations to truly assess the impact of Reverend Jesse Jackson.

“He's had two sons to go to Congress, one currently is serving, and he has influenced so many people, and I think that his greatest legacy shows up in the lives of those who he impacted,” said Muhammad.